Beads of Truth, Summer 1985 #15
by Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji

The basic line on which we as Sikhs are cultured, on which we are nursed, on which we live, on which we rally, on which we are together, which is the foundation of our Dharma is “Nanak Nam cherdi kalaa, tere bhaane sarbat kaa bhalaa.” “Nanak, through the grace ofThy holy Nam, let everybody be exalted. And through Thy grace, through Thy will, let everybody be good, happy, prosperous:’ That is what we say in our prayer.

And yet we enjoy gossip. How long can you be Sikhs and still spread rumors and gossip negativ­ity? Look, all of us can fall apart. You were students of Kundalini Yoga. Shakti Pad is a state of consciousness in that science which one has to cross. Next state of consciousness is saintlihood. You think to cross Shakti Pad is a joke? Only one thing will take you out of Shakti Pad: your confirmed faith. “Pala par ta jaaee samunder aukehee paae. Eh loonee sil koee chatte viralaa koee samaj­haae.” “To hold the skirt of the teacher’s faith, swim across this heavy ocean. Remember, it is like an unsalted hardstone: very few will tell you that is the most difficult to lick:” You think spiritual is just to wear good clothes and to have a lot of money and give to charity and tell everybody to smile? No, my dear, spirituality is not that. Spiritual is, without reservation, to wish good to all. Without reservation! And if you are hurt, without reservation keep on wishing good. Spirit is endless. Soul is endless.

If anybody in 3HO and Sikh Dharma gets shaky or falls apart, instead of going and licking his wounds, and loving and encourag­ing him and hugging him and pull­ing him up, everybody gets into sto­ries about him. Very unfair. Unfair to you, not the person you talk about. We must learn one thing-to receive people gracefully and let people go gracefully.

You have to understand life. This is the projectivity. Life is a big party. There are different psyches. There’s a psyche A, psyche B, psyche C, psy­che 0, psyche up to Z. It goes on. They have their own fulcrum, their own axle, they have their own move­ment, they have their own orbit, they have their own day and night. It’s individual. Then we are a social group. We are many, many people. We are like a family. Just like this sun which has so many planets so it becomes one family and the sun is called one star-so there is one family. It deals as a family around other families. And that’s how life goes on, interwoven, interrelating, in which there can be tragedies, and there can be wrong and there can be parties, there can be happiness.

Now what is called spirituality, grace, human conduct, or manners? When people come to you, welcome them, take care of them like guests. When they leave, go to the door, see them off, and wish them well and let the wind be behind them so their journey will be happy. Even if they are going to hell, send them with good wishes. That should be your character. If somebody chooses to go and jump into the hell, send him off with a lot of love. Give him some­thing to eat on the way. Perhaps in the middle of the way, one may turn back. I do not come from a defeatist attitude. There’s no no in my diction­ary. It doesn’t exist. “When things are down and darkest, we walk the tallest:” I believe it. If anything has gone wrong, my God will protect me.

What do I represent to you? Faith.

I can’t be destroyed because of my faith. Even an attempt at character assassination can’t destroy me, because I give character of character assassination. I feel in my reflection when somebody tries to assassinate my character, he’s trying to ask for the help of his impotency, or her fri­gidity. Very honestly, that’s all it is about.

Your projectivity is not you, which you are consciously putting out. There’s a big force behind it-subconscious. Your subconscious can­not be controlled if the supreme con­sciousness is not mixed and balanced. It is like a rope of three wires: conscious, subconscious and supreme-conscious. The lack of supreme consciousness is the only problem you have. You have to relate to the source, the Shabad of the Guru. Siri Guru Granth Sahib is the source. If the Shabad of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib will sit in your heart, you cannot be defeated. Guru says, “Baahe jinaadi pakaree-e. Sar deeje baae naa choree-e. Guru Teg Bahaadar bolee­aa gur shabadee eh man horee-aa.” Through the Guru’s shabad stop your mind. And if you hold some­body’s hand, let your head go but not the hand. “Aval Alaah noor upaa­iaa. Kudarat ke sabh bande. Ek noor te sabh jag upaje-aa. Kaon bhale ko mande.”

It’s Gurbani. It’s the Guru’s words.

You don’t remember them. There was but One God from which the light came. Aval Allah. Allah is a Muslim word but it is in Siri Guru Granth. We use every word for every religion. Aval Allah Aval: the first was God. Noor upaaiaa: He pro­duced the light. Kudarat ke sabh ban­day: Mother Nature created all peo­ple. Ek noor te sabh jag upaje-aa: From one light all the universe has been created. Kaun bhale ko manday: Who is bad and who is good? Who do you want to judge?

Be disciplined. Serve. Help. In­spire. Wish. Pray. Meditate for posi­tivity. Gossip, jealousy, all these negativities-they do not harm the person you try to harm. They harm you. It’s not worthwhile that we should spoil our projectivity. Rather if somebody is rotten, don’t avoid that person. Go and cover the rotten person. When the rotten things are covered, they become compost, ma­nure. It’s a simple organic procedure.

Can’t we turn ourselves to be a good manure and go into the pro­ductivity of consciousness and come out with philosophy, ideas and beauty that all humans can be very happy about?

I can’t hate anybody. I will not agree with you on certain things. You love me very much. You want to pro­tect me. Fine. You should do it. But if you expect me to hide out, sit myself in a closet, then you are crazy. That’s not my job. I only know one thing: give. I do not know how to take. It is not possible for my con­sciousness to take anything. What should I take? And from where should I take it to when I am going to leave? I have to go home. I don’t belong to you. This is a motel for me. I have come here just to serve you, share with you, and participate with you, right? To give is my nature. A scorpion cannot let his nature go. He has to sting. Why should I leave my nature which is to be a saint? What is wrong with my nature? I have mine, you have yours. You have the nature to judge; I have no nature to judge. You have the nature to freak out. I have no nature to freak out, try your best. Sometimes I yell and scream and confront you, only to elevate you. That is my job. My job is to go under the dust, pull you up. What do they call it? Forklift. That’s it. And to put you on a truck so that you can be delivered to the destination.

The purpose of life is to continue to be good. Just to be good is no good. Continuously to be good is the purpose. And if you belong to the house of Nanak the Guru, then be good to the worst persons. “Chan­giaa(n) nall chingaa-ee changee-aa-ee karonee eh taa(n) sabh ko-e jane. Buree­aa(n) nal changee-aa-ee karonee eh o Sikh pachaane.” “With good people act and behave good to all. With the worst people, to do good is the only recognized act of the Sikh.” You have a philosophy-if somebody hits you, do you hit him back? Why? Some­body hits you, let him hit, and bypass it. And if he says, “Hit me back,” you say, “You are not worth it, thank you.” Life is a personality of projectivity of positivity. It has a character and it has a commitment. You are what you can give. You are not what you can take. Your whole philosophy is upside down. Your whole psyche is upside down. The value of a human is not what he takes or how much he has pos­sessed.

Your good and bad projectivity must carry with it grace. That’s your fundamental nature as a human being. I am talking to those grateful Sikhs who are Sikhs by conviction. I am talking to those Sikhs who are Sikhs here by shelter. They have taken shelter in Sikh Dharma. I am talking to those Sikhs in Sikh Dhar­ma who are here by accident, by inci­dent, or by their will they happen to be here. Just remember, you are known to be very conscious people. There is a tree, there is a lot of fruit. All won’t ripen. Everybody cannot develop in the entire consciousness. There are elementary, supplemen­tary people and there are com­plementary people. The life belongs to conscious elementary people and Sikh Dharma does give the path and the teaching to be an elementary person provided you also put in an elementary effort. “Aapane hathee aapanaa aape hee kaaj savaari-aa.” “With your own hand take care of your self and your work.” It’s the Guru’s teaching.

You are students of Kundalini Yoga, you should be intuitive. Take a calculated risk. Write down the losses. Understand. To get freaked out is a human element. Sometimes the nervous system cannot take pressure. That’s why I have started teaching Life-Force courses. I have realized with continuous knowledge and work you do need a major tune­up. You cannot leave the car for three days. So basically, alright, I said, “Okay, let it be my pleasure to serve these guys, get them in at 9:00 am and out by 5:00 pm. Do the major tune-up, put them in good shape, conscious, sub-conscious and supreme conscious and let them have fun.” I did this at the start of this year. Whatever your vehicle of life needs to complete this journey, as you carry in your car the spare tire, why not start your day with spare consciousness? And why not have a little time to spare for your medita­tion? And why don’t you spare a lit­tle time for your sadhana?

You need this source of positive energy. You need the relationship with Infinity. You need the altar, the meditation, you need some positive projectivity to keep the cherdi kalaa. You add the excellence but you keep it excelled. It’s very funny. Some­body said today, “I am scared to be committed.” I said, “Please, don’t be scared.” “What will happen to me?” I said, “Nothing will happen to you.” “Why?” I said, “Is there any plant which grows without roots? Is there any plant which gives fruit when its roots aren’t there?” I said, “Commit­ment is a root. Character is the trunk. And life is the fruit. Happi­ness is the fruit. Weaker the commit­ment, weaker shall be the trunk and bad shall be the fruit.” A lot of peo­ple started with me in the last 15 years. I started teaching Kundalini Yoga. I used to see those wide eyes, and I said, “God, they are amazing people. They love God and I should do something to bring them to heaven.” Today you look like saints. But one thing in Sikh Dharma is very unique, which you do not under­stand. And it has a tremendous sub­conscious effect on you. That is the bana, which gives you niaaraa panth,* and which totally puts you up. There is no way that you can wear this and not be conscious. Therefore about 80% of you can’t misbehave. When somebody says, “I can’t wear bana,” I don’t have to even ask further. I know how the person is doing.

So long as you practice bana, bani, seva, simran honestly, then happiness will erve you honestly. It is an elementary path. Sometimes complementary and supplementary people freak out. It is not that their commitment is poor. It is not that their character is poor. Sometimes their nervous system cannot take it. Sometimes their sadhana is not strong enough. Sometimes their meditation is not regular. But they are trying. Give everybody a chance. And a hand. That is human. Kindness. “De-aa dharam kaa put.” “Kind­ness is the air, the outspring of Dharam.” Of righteousness. Be kind to those who are unkind to you and that is the kind God likes.

May the consciousness be exalted, may the soul be awakened. May the spell of darkness break. May the excellence dawn. May the guidance of the God encircle the head. May the light of the words of the Guru rule the heart. May the kindness and consciousness prevail through all chakras. May Thy grace protect the grace of the House of the Guru and the people who belong. May the destinies be fulfilled and may Thy power be sweet and ever flowing. We pray to Thee. Be with us ever and carry us with Thy lotus hand. Unto Thee we pray, 0 Lord. May Thy mercy, grace and light protect us in this darkest time. Give us the cour­age and exaltedness that we can again walk tallest. May we pray to Thee and Thy grace, ever, ever, ever. Sat Nam.

Copyright The Teachings of Yogi Bhajan